The father of a YouTuber who was shot while making a prank video in a Virginia mall said he got hate mail from people telling him his son deserved it

• A YouTuber was shot in the abdomen while recording a prank video at a Virginia mall on Sunday.
• His father told Insider that he has received messages telling him that his son deserved to be shot.

The father of a 21-year-old YouTube prankster who was shot while recording a practical joke video on Sunday said he has been inundated with abuse online.

Jeramy Cook, the father of Tanner Cook of the YouTube page Classified Goons, told Insider that he has received private messages on Facebook from people saying that his son deserved to be shot, as well as a barrage of hate-filled comments.

"My son is in the hospital from being shot and we are getting all this hate mail," he said.

The elder Cook provided screenshots of private messages he and his family members received in the aftermath of the shooting, one of which included threatening language.

The message said: "Your son deserved to be shot because he was harassing and assaulting others in public... Your son is not a victim."

"Your son fucked around and found out. There's millions of us out there, you don't mess with us," the person said.

Cook also received around two dozen comments suggesting that his son deserved to be shot on a Facebook post he shared on Sunday. The post asked friends and family to pray for his son, who is currently recovering in a hospital from surgery to remove his gallbladder.

One comment said: "Sounds like it was self defense and he got what he deserved. He might not be so lucky next time."

Several comments referenced the prankster's past videos, accusing the younger Cook of a pattern of harassing strangers for his YouTube content.

In some of his YouTube videos, where he has almost 40,000 subscribers, Tanner can be seen going behind the counter at a fast-food restaurant, trailing strangers in stores, and pretending to vomit on Uber drivers.

The elder Cook said he agrees that the prank videos could be viewed by some as a "form of harassment," but added that his son is ultimately a "good kid" who wasn't trying to hurt anyone.

He also said that he struggled to understand how people could try to justify shooting somebody for taking a prank badly.

"It's just nasty and terrible," he said.